Wednesday, 19 September 2012

I’ve been away from Santiago for a week visiting London. I
had to sort out some personal stuff. As I crammed into the Tube to travel 30
minutes underground I knew where I’d rather be. The pace of life is different
in Santiago and whilst of course I love the excitement and buzz of London,
nowadays a short visit is enough for me.

When I got back I found that pilgrims were still arriving in
considerable numbers and I was happy to
help write some Compostelas whilst Amigos Lesley and Séan, both from Ireland, chatted
to the pilgrims.

Even with the pressure of a seemingly unending queue the
atmosphere in the office is usually light-hearted. Colleagues are courteous and
helpful to pilgrims. Usually. Laura on my left raised her eyebrows when we both
overheard the usually mild mannered Fernando speak more loudly than usual. “Look”,
he said, “I don’t make the rules.” He then proceeded to explain to a Spanish
cyclist that to qualify for a Compostela he had to have cycled at least 200 kilometres
to Santiago. I glanced over at the man’s credencial which Fernando held in his
hand. There were few sellos to be seen. Fernando rehearsed the policy for the
third time and for the third time the cyclist started arguing with him. He had
cycled 100 kilometres and felt he was entitled. His complaints got sharper and
his voice grew louder. Frankly it was ugly.

Pietr, Trudy, Barbara, Dominique

It was with some relief I looked up at the next two pilgrims
who had arrived at my desk. The woman, Trudy, handed me four credenciales.
Thinking they were for the two of them I said, “ 2 credenciales each. Where
have you two walked from, St Jean Pied de Port?” The man, Pietr, said with a
broad smile and his eyes twinkling. “No, I’ve got four as well” and promptly
plumped them down. “We started from our home in Holland” Trudy beamed. “2,700
kilometres” Pietr chimed in, “109 days walking” added Trudy. Just then two more
pilgrims stepped up to Laura. They were Barbara from Italy who had walked from
St Jean Pied de Port and Dominique who had walked from Paris. They had all met
on the Camino Francés and were overjoyed to be at the same desk to get their
Compostelas. I have to confess I was being mischievous when I turned to
Fernando who was still dealing with the very rude cyclist.

“ Fernando, two of
them have walked 2,700 kilometres from Holland, one from Paris and the other
from St Jean, do you have any idea of
their total together?” I asked. Fernando cottoned
on and started to calculate. He turned back to his desk to find the difficult
cyclist had departed. Let’s hope we see him another day.

It isn’t about miles walked or cycled. The policy of having
to walk 100 kilometres or cycle 200 kilometres is purely arbitrary. It was
introduced to give the Compostela some meaning and to recognise that many, many
pilgrims travel extraordinary distances to reach the Tomb of St James.
Pilgrimage is about the internal journey we travel in our hearts and minds as
we walk along the road to Santiago. But I have a special fondness for the long,
long distance pilgrims. In addition to Trudy and Pietr, Barbara and Dominique
here are some others who have arrived in the last few days:

Meet Koreans Dong Hyeon and Hee Bum. They walked to Santiago
from Istanbul and Sofia respectively.
They were overwhelmed to have arrived. They were humble and deeply appreciative
of the welcome they received. They had difficulty expressing what the journey had
meant to them. “A dream” said one, “ My private world has opened” said the other.

Istanbul was also the departure point of cyclist Nicholas
from New York who had also cycled from Istanbul and would hug St James before
setting off on the next leg of his journey to Tangiers!

The Camino doesn’t all have to be done at once and this
group from Segovia arrived with a huge sense of achievement.

One of them, Rosa, said, “We come from Segovia and we have
arrived in Santiago after two years and four attempts: Spring and Autumn in
2011 and now 2012. We started from Roncesvalles and now we are here! I can now
rest my sore feet.”

However the most
astonishing achievement we saw celebrated this week was when Francisco Guillen
arrived. He has set himself a challenge for his pilgrimage and he set out from
his home in Castellón in Spain, travelling over the border to France, then to
Rome, then to Switzerland, Belgium, and Holland before making his way back to
Spain to follow the Camino to Santiago. All 6165 kilometres travelled in his
wheelchair.

His words are a lesson to the cyclist who was mean to
Fernando. They are a lesson for us all:

“The mind is the limit, but what this shows is that a
pilgrim has no limits to his spirit. In the human spirit we see the greatness
of people”

Saturday, 1 September 2012

Two years ago the Pilgrims Office moved from Number 1
Rúa do Vilar and its famous green door to another part of the Casa Del Dean at
Number 3 Rúa do Vilar. Many pilgrims over these two years still went to the old
door but at long last new signs have arrived indicating where the new office is
located. Inside there are others indicating where the various facilities can be
found.

New signs may be also emerging in the numbers of
pilgrims arriving in Santiago.
I have been reporting here the significant increase in pilgrims arriving from
English speaking countries. This analysis of the first 8 months of the year
shows the percentage increase between the years 2011 – 2012.

But in this period the start of another trend may be
seen. In the years 2009, 2010 and 2011, in this same period the number of
Spaniards was 56%, 69%, and 55% of the total respectively. This year that
percentage has dropped to 52%.

Also the average growth rate in total numbers over the
last few years has been around 6% per annum. In the period reported this has
fallen to 4% as you can see below.

Already the pundits are speculating that the economic
crisis in Spain
is having its effect on the number of Spanish pilgrims. I think that it is a
little early to reach such conclusions. The crisis will worsen considerably in
the next year or so and the deeply unpopular austerity programme has still to
bite. Maybe then more people will turn to the pilgrimage. Vamos a ver.

Pilgrims from English speaking countries 1 January – 31 August 2012

Country

2009

2010

2011

2012

Growth

Australia

577

694

744

1064

43%

Canada

1265

1125

1336

1665

25%

Ireland

1285

1644

1776

2758

55%

South Africa

185

177

318

478

50%

United Kingdom

1157

1340

1475

2373

61%

United States

1826

2294

2743

4539

66%

New Zealand

119

143

145

217

50%

Total
number of pilgrims who arrived in Santiago in the period 1 January 2011 – 31
August 2011

136006

Total number of
pilgrims who arrived in Santiago in the period 1 January 2012 – 31 August 2012

Johnniewalker gave up a long held career to lead a different way of life. To mark the change he walked one of the pilgrimage routes to Santiago. Now he just can't stop walking. These are some of his stories...